System and method for managing short message service communications for a radio station hosted event

ABSTRACT

A system and method for communicating with an audience. The system includes a radio transmitter that transmits a first communication to a plurality of audience members. A server receives a plurality of short message service communications, wherein each of the plurality of short message service communications is transmitted from a portable communication device in reply to the first communication. A display operably coupled to the server automatically displays each of the plurality of short message service communications.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit and is a continuation of U.S.Utility patent application Ser. No. 11/127,612, filed on May 12, 2005,and incorporated herein by reference. Accordingly, this application alsoclaims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.60/571,908, filed on May 17, 2004, and incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention generally relates to a system and method formanaging communications for a radio station hosted event with anaudience, and more specifically, to a system and method for managingshort message service communications thereto.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Various types of systems for communicating and interacting with a remoteaudience are known in the prior art. Such systems aim to broadcastinformation from a central point to a plurality of audience members atremote locations, and also aim to allow those audience members to eachcommunicate back to the central broadcast location. In a radio stationenvironment, for example, a disc jockey announces a contest sponsored bythe radio station over the air. That announcement is transmitted via theradio station's radio transmitter at a predetermined radio frequency,such as an FM or AM broadcast channel. Each of the audience membersreceives that broadcast via a radio, which is tuned to the predeterminedradio frequency. To communicate back to the central broadcast point,audience members are typically invited to use a telephone to call in tothe radio station's switchboard. For example, the ubiquitous statementfrom a radio station “be caller number X to win free tickets” to someevent is known and popular in the prior art.

In responding to the invitation from the central broadcast point,audience members use a telephone to dial a predetermined contacttelephone number of the radio station. Because this system relies onexisting telephone technology, it has certain inherent disadvantages.For example, the number of audience members who can participate at anygiven time is limited by the number of telephone connections of theradio station. If the station has only three telephone lines, then onlythree audience members may participate at any time. Some systems allowfor multiple audience members to be connected to a single telephoneline, i.e., to be in a standard FIFO queue while waiting for theattention of the human operator of the line which is typically the discjockey or an assistant. However, such systems are still limited by thenumber of participants who may wait in the queue. For example, a radiostation with four telephone lines, each with a queue of ten positions,still only has a capacity for forty audience members to participate atany given time.

Some broadcast stations allow for audience members to participate viathe internet. Typically, that interaction is provided through a website,which allows the user to submit electronic mail to the operators of thecentral broadcast station. However, that system suffers from thedisadvantage of the requirement that the operators of the centralstation respond to each electronic mail individually. Moreover, thatsystem requires audience members to have access to an electronic mailsystem at the time the station broadcasts its invitation forcommunication from audience members. This necessarily limits the numberof mobile audience members who can participate.

The present invention is provided to solve the problems discussed aboveand other problems, and to provide advantages and aspects not providedby prior communication systems of this type. A full discussion of thefeatures and advantages of the present invention is deferred to thefollowing detailed description, which proceeds with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a system and method forcommunicating with an audience. According to one aspect of theinvention, the system involves use of a radio transmitter that transmitsor broadcasts a first communication to a plurality of listening audiencemembers. This first communication can be, for example, either a recordedmessage played by a radio station or a live announcement by anindividual, such as a radio personality. One or more members of thelistening audience can respond to the first communication by sending asecond or responding communication, in the form of a short messageservice (SMS) communication, in response to the first communication. Theshort message service communication from each responding audience membercan be transmitted from a portable communication device, such as acellular phone or other similar portable communication device. Thesystem includes a server (e.g., a computer) that receives the shortmessage service communications and a display operably coupled to theserver that automatically displays each of the short message servicecommunications received.

According to one aspect of the invention, the first communication is arequest for participation in a contest, and each of the short messageservice communications is an entry into the contest. Each short messageservice communication may be a text message response, sent by a cellulartelephone or other portable communication device capable of sending textmessages. The messages are sent over communication networks.

According to another aspect of the invention, the server assigns anumber to at least one of the short message service communications. Theassigned number can be based on the order in which the short messageservice communication is received. The server may also be configured tosend a third communication to one or more of the portable communicationdevices. The third communication can be in reply to the short messageservice communication, and can be generated in response to the numberassigned to the short message service communication. The thirdcommunication may be a SMS communication, a voice communication, or anyother communication suitable for transmitting a response to thelistening audience.

The present invention provides a system and method for managing SMScommunications wherein a central broadcast station is not limited in thenumber of audience members who can participate in the communication. Thepresent invention also provides a system and method for communicatingwith an audience where personnel at the central broadcast station neednot respond manually to each individual communication from audiencemembers.

Additionally, the present invention provides a system and method formanaging SMS communications received from an audience where replycommunications (i.e., communications from members of the audienceresponding to the broadcast) are automatically generated. Moreover, thereply communication to a responding communication can be generated basedon the order in which the responding communication is received.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, a computer readablestorage medium adapted to control a computer and including a computerprogram for managing SMS communications transmitted from a plurality ofportable communication devices is provided. The computer programcomprises a first code segment for configuring a computer to receive aplurality of responding communications, wherein each of the plurality ofresponding communications is transmitted from a portable communicationdevice in response to a broadcast communication; and, a second codesegment for generating a graphical user interface image, wherein atleast a portion of the graphical user interface image is adapted todisplay each of the plurality of responding communications.

The computer program can further include a code segment for generatingstatistical data based on the plurality of responding communications andplotting the statistical data on at least a portion of the graphicaluser interface image. The statistical data can correspond to therelative number of the plurality of responding communications receivedfrom each of a plurality of service providers or portable communicationdevices. According to one alternative, the statistical data cancorrespond to a relative time interval between receipt of respondingcommunications. The program can configure the computer to update thestatistical data in real time.

The program can further include a code segment for generatingstatistical data based on the geographic location of the respondingparties. For example, the area code of the communication device fromwhich responding communications are received can be used to generatestatistical data about the user body based on the geographic locationsof the users.

The program can further comprise a code segment for configuring thecomputer to transmit a reply communication to at least one portablecommunication device in reply to the responding communication receivedfrom the at least one portable communication device. The reply can beone of plurality of messages stored in a database.

Additionally, the computer program can further comprise a code segmentfor configuring the computer to identify a parameter of each of theplurality of responding communications, and to automatically determinewhether the parameter of each of the plurality of respondingcommunications indicates one of a win and a loss. The parameter can be,for example, the order or time of receipt of the respondingcommunication.

Similarly, the responding communication can include a parameteridentifying a user selection, such as a user-requested artist or song.That parameter can be used to generate statistical data, such as themost-requested artist or most-requested song. Likewise, that data can becorrelated to the time at which users transmit respondingcommunications, and the geographic regions from which user transmitthose communications. The resultant statistical display can thereforedisplay not only aggregate data concerning the respondingcommunications, but also correlating data regarding the demographics ofthe users sending those communications.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing specification taken in conjunction with the followingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To understand the present invention, it will now be described by way ofexample, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system and method for communicating withan audience, configured in accordance with the principles of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating communications automatically generatedin reply to communications from audience members, in accordance with oneaspect of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of statistical information representingaggregate data generated by a system configured in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIGS. 4-6 are screen capture images of a graphical user interface formanaging communications between a radio station and an audience inaccordance with the principles of the present invention; the figuresillustrate the graphical user interface from the perspective of a userat the radio station.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While this invention is susceptible of embodiments in many differentforms, there are shown in the drawings and will herein be described indetail preferred embodiments of the invention with the understandingthat the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification ofthe principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the broadaspects of the invention to the embodiments illustrated.

Referring initially to FIG. 1, a system and method for managingcommunications between a radio station and an audience is disclosed. Thesystem includes a radio transmitter 12 that transmits a firstcommunication to an audience. It will be understood by one of skill inthe art that in the preferred embodiment, radio transmitter 12 is astandard radio broadcast system comprising a transmitting toweroperating at a predetermined radio frequency, such as that used by radiostations licensed to operated by the Federal Communications Commission.However, satellite or digital radio transmissions are also contemplatedas being part of the system or method. In another embodiment, the firstcommunication is transmitted via the internet through a “streaming” dataapplication, as will also be appreciated by one of skill in the art, in,for example, an “internet radio” environment.

Preferably, the first communication is widely broadcast and istransmitted to a plurality of radios 26. The radios 26 may be of avariety of different types, including a standard home receiverappliance, a car radio, a portable battery-powered radio, or a broadcastradio system. In another embodiment, the first communication is receivedthrough an application configured to access a data stream via theinternet (e.g., a computer).

This first broadcast communication can be in the form of a request forparticipation in a contest. Preferably, the request constitutes aninvitation to the audience members to communicate to the centralbroadcast station and thereby enter the contest.

In response to the first communication, a plurality of audience memberscan transmit a second or responding communication back to the radiostation. Although it is anticipated that a large number of audiencemembers participate by sending a responding communication, each responseis referred to herein as “a short message service communication.”

According to the present invention, the short message servicecommunications are received by a server 22 over a communication networkeither directly or in combination with the internet or other networkutilized by the radio station transmitting the first communication. Suchnetworks are known and well established.

In this example, the short message service communications are each anentry into the contest. For example, the first communication may be aradio broadcast inviting audience members to enter a contest, such as“Be respondent number X to win free tickets to a concert.” Each of theshort message service communications is transmitted in response to thefirst invitation communication, and thereby constitutes an entry intothe contest.

Each of the plurality of short message service communications istransmitted from a portable communication device 20. The portablecommunication device 20 is, in a preferred embodiment, a cellulartelephone. However, it will be understood that any portablecommunication device 20 capable of responding to the first communicationin text format is capable of interaction with the system in accordancewith the principles of the present invention. For example, the portablecommunication device 20 may be a personal digital assistant, such asthat available through cellular service carriers. The portablecommunication device 20 is portable, mobile, and configured forinteraction and communication with a cellular communication network.

It will be further understood that the portable communication device 20of the present invention is not limited to text-messages. It iscontemplated that the portable communication device 20 also be acommunication device configured to transmit media, as well ascommunications in text format. For example, MMS protocol may be used toallow the transmissions from the portable communication device 20 toinclude text, and in addition, formatting information regarding thetext, additional meta-information regarding the communication, andadditional data such as images, sounds and other media.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, each of theplurality of short message service communications is preferably a textmessage using known short message service text messaging protocols. Aswill be understood by one of skill in the art, SMS or short messageservice is a globally accepted wireless service that enables thetransmission of alphanumeric messages between mobile subscribers andexternal systems such as electronic mail, paging and voice mail systems.It will also be understood by one of skill in the art that a textmessage is an alphanumeric communication constituting characters thatare recognizable to a reader of the text message. Preferably, the textmessage embodied in the short message service communication is of apredetermined nature. For example, the first communication may be “Bethe tenth person to text message the word win, to win free concerttickets.” In response to this message, the short message servicecommunication is a text message comprised of the alphanumeric message“win”. It will be understood, however, that to constitute an entry intothe contest, the short message service communication need not becomprised of a predetermined alphanumeric pattern.

The short message service communications are transmitted to apredetermined address. This may be a telephone number configured toreceive text message communications. Alternatively, the address may alsobe an electronic mail address configured for the same. To facilitatereceipt of the responding messages (i.e., short message servicecommunications), the first communication also preferably comprisesinformation identifying the predetermined address to which the pluralityof short message service communications should be addressed. In analternative form of the invention, a plurality of different addressesmay be communicated in the first communication wherein each address canbe a different form of entry (e.g., each different address may representa vote for a specific item or person in a listener survey or poll, oreach address may represent a particular reward or prize desired by theresponding party).

The server 22 is programmed or configured to receive the short messageservice communications. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the server 22 is incommunication with a transceiver 30, which effects the receipt of theplurality of short message service communications. The transceiver 30 ispreferably a component of a cellular telephone network, which receivesthe short message service communication and transmits the short messageservice communication to the server 22. The server 22 and transceiver 30are connected via a communications network 24. Preferably, thecommunications network 24 is the internet, although a local computernetwork and local transceiver 30 are also operable in accordance withthe principles of the present invention.

The server 22 is also programmed or configured to identify a parameterof the short message service communications, and to assign or associatea unique number to at least one of the short message servicecommunications, and preferably to each of the received short messageservice communications, based on the identified parameter. The uniquenumber is preferably related to the order or time in which the at leastone short message service communication is received by the server 22.For example, a “first” short message service communication received at11:01:56 pm may be assigned number “1” indicating that this shortmessage service communication is the first one received by the server22. A “second” short message service communication received at 11:02:04pm may be assigned number “2” indicating that this short message servicecommunication is the second one received by the server 22. It will beunderstood that the number assigned to the short message servicecommunication is not necessarily an integer, but may be any data elementindicating the order in which the short message service communication isreceived, such as a timestamp, a letter, or a data tag. Any data capableof representing the order in which the short message servicecommunication is received is operable as a “number” in accordance withthe present invention.

In the case where the event identified by the first communication is acontest requiring a response from a particular responding member of theaudience (e.g., the tenth caller), the server 22 can automaticallydetermine, based on the parameter (either directly or indirectly by theunique number) of the short message service communication whether thatshort message service communication is a “win” or a “loss.”

Referring to FIG. 4, a graphical user interface 400 is illustrated for asystem embodying the principles of the present invention, shown from theperspective of a user at a radio station. Received short message servicecommunications 410, and the personal communication device phone numbers420 from which those communications 410 have been received, are eachtime-stamped 430 to determine the order in which they are received. Athird communication 440, i.e., a reply communication, is automaticallytransmitted to each of the personal communication devices. Asillustrated, the third communication 440, i.e. the reply communication,comprises the same message for each such communication. And since thethird communication 440 can be automatically transmitted, the user ofthe system at the radio station need not individually reply to each andevery short message communication 410. Also illustrated in FIG. 4 is anelement 450 of the present invention for tabulating and displaying theaggregate results 460 of short message communications 410 received fromaudience members. As illustrated, audience members can, in their shortmessage communications 410, vote for a particular artist or song 470.The aggregate results 460 of those votes are then displayed as part ofthe graphical user interface 400 for the user at the radio station,thereby enabling the user to perform an at-a-glance assessment of theaudience input. It will be understood that FIG. 4 is merely an exemplaryembodiment of a graphical user interface for use in the system, and thatother graphical user interfaces may be used without departing from theprinciples of the present invention.

It will be understood that the server 22 can be either local to thecentral broadcast station 10, or remote from the station as illustratedin FIG. 1, such as would be the case in an embodiment wherein the server22 is operated as a component of an external cellular communicationnetwork. Alternatively, the server 22 may be local to the centralbroadcast station 10, such as would be the case in an embodiment whereinthe server 22 is operated by the personnel of the central broadcaststation 10, and not part of the external cellular communication network.In either of those embodiments, the server 22 communicates with thetransceiver 30 and central broadcast station 10 via the communicationnetwork 24. It will be further understood that a wide variety ofcomputer software, operating systems and computer hardware componentscan be used to configure the server 22 for use with the system andmethod of the present invention.

A display 14 is operably coupled to the server 22, as illustrated inFIG. 1. In one embodiment, the display 14 is directly connected to theserver 22. The display 14 is preferably a standard computer displayunit, such as a cathode ray tube monitor 16, a liquid crystal displaymonitor, and the like. Each of the plurality of short message servicecommunications is automatically displayed by the display 14, therebyeliminating the necessity for audience members to wait until their shortmessage service communications are received by the transmitter of thefirst communication.

The server 22 can also be configured for transmitting a thirdcommunication to at least one of the plurality of portable communicationdevices providing short message service communications. The thirdcommunication may be configured manually by the transmitter of the firstcommunication. This may be done in an embodiment where the transmittingparty employs input devices 18 such as a keyboard and mouse to type thecontents of the third communication and then transmit that thirdcommunication to the portable communication device 20 from which theshort message service communication was transmitted. For example, theshort message service communication may constitute a text message to theeffect of “Please play Baby One More Time by Britney Spears”. The thirdcommunication may then be manually entered via input devices 18, to theeffect of “It will be played at 10 pm”, and may then be transmitted tothe portable communication device 20 from which the short messageservice communication was transmitted.

Similarly and as illustrated in FIG. 4, the server 22 can be configuredto tabulate user input that is not based on the order or time at whichthe second communications are received. For example, the firstcommunication can request that users submit, as the secondcommunication, their favorite song or artist. The number of usersresponding with a particular song or artist are then tabulated, and themost popular (and least popular) song or artist can then be determinedbased on the results of the aggregate second communication data.

In another embodiment and as illustrated in FIG. 2, the thirdcommunication is in response to the short message service communication,and is automatically generated by the system based on the order in whichthe short message service communication is received.

The portable communication devices 20 are each used to transmit a shortmessage service communication 28 to the central broadcast station 10. Asdisclosed previously herein and as illustrated in FIG. 2, the shortmessage service communications may be of a predetermined alphanumerictext message such as “Win”. Preferably, server 22 is configured togenerate reply messages (i.e., third communications) 23, 24, 25, 26 and27 to the respective portable communication device 20 from which theshort message service communications 28 originated. These reply messages23, 24, 25, 26 and 27 are preferably generated automatically by theserver 22, but may also be generated manually using input devices 18 byan operator at the central broadcast station 10. The reply messages canbe based on the order in which the short message service communicationis received by the server 22. For example, third communication 23 is areply communication to the first portable communication device 20 fromwhich a short message service communication 28 is received. Asillustrated in FIG. 2, that third communication 23 is generated based onthe number 21, of the short message service communication 28, i.e., theorder in which the short message service communication 28 is received.Third communications 24, 25, 26 and 27 are preferably each unique to theportable communication devices 20, and are each generated based on theorder in which each of those short message service communications 28 arereceived as illustrated in FIG. 2.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the system of the present invention can befurther configured to generate statistical data 31 relating to the shortmessage service communications received by the server 22. Thisstatistical data 31 can be configured to represent aggregate dataregarding the short message service communications, such as the numberof short message service communications received at particular hours ofthe day, or in response to particular personnel operators (i.e., on-airpersonalities) of the central broadcast station 10.

Referring to FIG. 5, a graphical user interface 500 is illustrated foruse in the present system. The graphical user interface 500 is designedfor use by the party transmitting the first broadcast communication,i.e., a user at a radio station. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the radiostation user can specify the parameter 510, or “keyword” that audiencemembers must include in their short message communications. The radiostation user may also specify the order number 520 of the audiencemember who is going to win the contest; in the example shown in FIG. 5,the hundredth audience member to reply with the alphanumeric string“WINNER” in a short message communication will win the contest. Also asillustrated in FIG. 5, the radio station user may specify alternativealphanumeric strings 530 that will be accepted by the system; in theillustrated example, the radio station user has specified that thestring “WNNER” will be accepted as a typographical error intended to bethe string “WINNER”. It will be understood that FIG. 5 is merely anexemplary illustration of a graphical user interface for performing thatfunction, and that additional graphical user interfaces can be usedwithout departing from the principles of the present invention. It willfurther be understood that though the graphical user interfaceillustrated in FIG. 5 allows for two the entry of two alternativestrings 530 that will be accepted as the “keyword” string, any number ofalternative strings 530 can be specified.

Referring to FIG. 6, a graphical user interface 600 is illustrated foruse in a system embodying the principles of the present invention. Theparty transmitting the first communication, e.g. a user at a radiostation, can specify third communications 610, 620, 630, 640, 650 thatwill be sent automatically to audience members who transmit shortmessage communications to the radio station. Moreover, the contents ofthe third communications 610, 620, 630, 640, 650 can be predetermined bya radio station user and based on the contents of the short messagecommunication received by an audience member and/or the order in whichthat short message communication is received. For example and asillustrated, the radio station user can specify a message 610 such as“Thanks for texting me . . . giving away free tix tomorrow at noon”,which will be transmitted to audience members who transmit a shortmessage communication to the radio station when a contest is not inprogress. The radio station can also, as illustrated, specify a thirdcommunication 620, such as “Thanks for your vote! The current firstplace song is [FIRSTPLACE]”, which will be transmitted in response toaudience members to submit short message communications containing votesfor their favorite song or artist. The system is configured toautomatically replace the string “[FIRSTPLACE]” with the song or artistthat has the current highest number of votes from audience members. Alsoand as illustrated, the graphical user interface allows the radiostation user to specify third communications 630, 640, 650 that will besent during a contest. The third communications 630, 640, 650transmitted to an audience member can be based on the order in whichthat audience member's short message communication was received. Forexample, the user can specify the message 640 “Congratulations! You aretexter number [NTH] !” to the audience member who is the Nth audiencemember to reply with the required alphanumeric string in the shortmessage communication. The system is configured to automatically replacethe string [NTH] with the order number of the audience member; forexample, “100.sup.th”. Likewise, the radio station user can specify thataudience members whose order number falls within a certain range of Nwill receive third communications 630, 650 that differ from the thirdcommunications transmitted to audience members whose order number fallsoutside that predetermined range. For example, audience members withorder numbers 1 through 99 can be specified to receive a thirdcommunication string 630 of “Thanks for your message! You are texternumber [XX]”, where the system is configured to automatically replacethe string “[XX]” with the order number of that audience member.Audience members with order numbers higher than 100, however, can bespecified to receive a different third reply communication 650, such as“Sorry you just missed being texter number [NTH]”. Thus, as shown inFIG. 6, the third communication 630, 640, 650 can be based on the orderin which the short message communication was received by the system, thetime at which the short message communication was received, or thecontents of the short message communication.

The system implements computer program or software for configuring theserver to perform the functions described. The program includes segmentsof code for implementing each such function. When the system isimplemented in software, it should be noted that the system can bestored on any computer readable medium for use by or in connection withany computer related system or method. The system can be embodied in anycomputer-readable medium for use by or in connection with an instructionexecution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer-based system,processor-containing system, or other system that can fetch theinstructions from the instruction execution system, apparatus, or deviceand execute the instructions.

As used herein, a “computer-readable medium” can be any means that canstore, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or inconnection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.The computer readable medium can be for example, but not limited to, anelectronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, orsemiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readablemedium would include the following: an electrical connection(electronic) having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette(magnetic), a random access memory (RAM) (electronic), a read-onlymemory (ROM) (electronic), an erasable programmable read-only memory(EPROM, EEPROM, or Flash memory) (electronic), an optical fiber(optical), and a portable compact disc read-only memory (CDROM)(optical). Note that the computer-readable medium could even be paper oranother suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as theprogram can be electronically captured, via, for instance, opticalscanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted orotherwise processed in a suitable manner if necessary, and then storedin a computer memory.

While this invention is susceptible to embodiments in many differentforms, this specification and the accompanying drawing disclose onlypreferred forms as examples of the invention. The invention is notintended to be limited to the embodiments so described, however. Thescope of the invention is identified in the appended claims.

1. A system for managing communications transmitted in response to afirst communication transmitted from a radio station comprising: aserver for receiving a plurality of short message servicecommunications, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of shortmessage service communications is transmitted from a portablecommunication device comprising a cellular telephone in reply to thefirst communication initiated by a host at the radio station, the serverbeing configured to identify from at least a portion of the plurality ofshort message service communications a requested artist or song to bebroadcast by the radio station; a display operably coupled to the serverand mounted within the radio station for automatically displaying atleast two of the plurality of short message service communications andthe requested artist or song; and, wherein, at the radio station, thehost can select and personally respond to the displayed short messageservice communications.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the servertracks information relating to each of the plurality of short messageservice communications received.
 3. The system of claim 1 wherein thefirst communication is a request for participation in a contest, andwherein the server is further configured to automatically determinewhether a parameter within the request for participation in the contestindicates a win of the contest.
 4. The system of claim 1 wherein atleast one of the short message service communications received by theserver is a text message.
 5. The system of claim 1 wherein the server isconfigured to assign a number to at least one of the plurality of shortmessage service communications received by the server based on the orderin which the at least one short message service communication isreceived by the server.
 6. The system of claim 5 wherein the server isconfigured to transmit a third communication to at least one portablecommunication device which transmitted a short message servicecommunication to the server in response to the first communication. 7.The system of claim 6 wherein the third communication is generated basedon the number assigned to the short message service communicationreceived by the at least one portable communication device.
 8. Thesystem of claim 1 wherein a plurality of the short message servicecommunications each comprise a predetermined parameter, the server beingconfigured for tabulating aggregate data from the plurality of shortmessage service communications based on the predetermined parameter. 9.The system of claim 2 further comprising code for generating statisticaldata based on the plurality of short message service communicationsreceived.
 10. The system of claim 9 further comprising a code segmentfor plotting the statistical data on at least a portion of a graphicaluser interface image.
 11. The system of claim 9 wherein the statisticaldata corresponds to the relative number of the plurality of shortmessage service communications received from each of a plurality ofservice providers.
 12. The system of claim 9 wherein the statisticaldata corresponds to a relative at least one of a number of uniqueparticipants transmitting each of the plurality of respondingcommunications, a number of responding communications received by thecomputer and relative time interval between receipt of respondingcommunications.
 13. The system of claim 9 further comprising a code forupdating the statistical data in real time.
 14. A system comprising: aserver for receiving a plurality of text messages wherein at least aportion are in response to a radio broadcast and transmitted by acellular telephone to a predetermined address, wherein the text messagesin response to the radio broadcast are an entry into a contest andassigned a number based on the order in which the text message responsewas received by the server, and wherein the server is configured forgenerating a text message reply to each text message response to acorresponding cellular phone from which each text message response wastransmitted, the text message reply to each text message response beingbased upon the number assigned to each text message response; wherein atleast a portion of the plurality of text messages comprising a requestfor an artist or song; and, wherein at least one of the plurality oftext messages is selectable by a radio host or disc jockey forresponding thereto.
 15. The system of claim 14 wherein the server tracksinformation relating to the text messages in response to the radiobroadcast.
 16. The system of claim 14 wherein the text message replyindicates a win or a loss of the contest.
 17. The system of claim 14wherein at least one of the text message in response to the radiobroadcast is a text message.
 18. The system of claim 14 furthercomprising code for generating statistical data based on the textmessages in response to the radio broadcast.
 19. The system of claim 18further comprising code for plotting the statistical data on at least aportion of a graphical user interface image.
 20. The system of claim 18wherein the statistical data corresponds to at least one of a number ofunique participants to the contest.